AirCon - Keep or Remove?

[Morton]

Hehehehe... yeah. I've still got the cheap speed bug. Even after I installed the diff gears, which I SWORE would be my last performance mod... I'm still hungry for more. After my first g-tech (hopefully this weekend), I'm probably only going to be keen on shaving off more tenths

So here's the situation:

I have air-con, but am currently short-cutting the compressor with a shorter serpentine belt. I have a tragic cooling issue with my car, but it's managable with the air-con off... ... the second I engage air-con on a 35+ degree day, the car's temperature sky-rockets uncontrollably. As it would.

So I'm faced with the saddening realisation that my air-con really has no sensible place in my car, except for winter demisting...

So I'm here to ask for a variety of opinions on what I should do


Here's a breakdown of pros and cons for removing my aircon:

Pros:
Car will be lighter
Engine bay will be cleaner
Radiator will see much better airflow
I never have to get it regassed again

Cons:
Demisting in winter will be a bitch
Hot day + heavy rain and windows up = sweat it out
It's not a decision that I can turn back on cheaply.


... hmmm. Quite the pickle.

Also, a couple of questions if anybody knows:

1) Roughly how much would the compressor + condensor etc all weigh? I'm guessing 20kg
2) What is the safest way to decommission an a/c system?
3) Any issues that could arise, which I should look out for!?


Cheers in advance, dudes

[Emackulation]

I dont know how much it weighs, I also dont know what it feels like to have working aircon, so Ive survived like 3yrs with no aircon up in Sunny QLD. Depends on where you live etc, are you moving to Brisbane or what?

[Morton]

I sure am! Word has come through that regardless of what the boss's decision is on the 7th of Jan, I have a job in the company. So I guess all there is between me and Bris is time!

Scary thought, really... but it's kinda exciting

[Emackulation]

Yay for Morton coming to QLD. Hmm yeah, if you can stick out the heat, take out the aircon. But you already have an issue with the aircon making the car overheat, are you willing to rectify that problem and get the aircon working, or are you just gunna not use it lol, like you are now. Hmmmm

[Morton]

Well, that's the thing. If I get a new radiator, I want to make it a GOOD one. I can never justify replacing a broken item with an identical OEM number. I have to upgrade, to make it good value for money.

So I'd be looking at perhaps buying a $300 aluminium radiator with a high-flow thermo fan. All up maybe a $400 - $500 expense, and that's not something I'm willing to sacrifice for another 12mths, especially seeing as my car still runs in its current condition. That, and then I would have to get the aircon regassed - it's due for it, which is... what... another $150?

That, and removing the air-con makes everything lighter, and is AWFULLY tempting

[VN_Luke]

1) Roughly how much would the compressor + condensor etc all weigh? I'm guessing 20kg
yep about that..... its definately worthwhile weight removal - but you might as well then also lose the thick rubber pads at the driver/passanger feet that weigh about 10kg as well.... then the deadner from wherever you can find it... and you've lost a passanger's weight all up (at least)


2) What is the safest way to decommission an a/c system?

for you, or the environment? - for you, don't be anywhere near the thing when it's releasing crazy gasses....... for the environment? take ita aircon place to drain the gas?

other than that, cut and rip is the name of the game!

3) Any issues that could arise, which I should look out for!?

sharp edges when you're ripping out all the pipes
there's also an annoying clip where the pipes run through the rad support.

[VN_Luke]

now stop reading and start ripping!

[Morton]

hehehe, you may find it amusing to find out that my car, in fact, has very little if NO sound deadner left That was all part of my long-winded countdown from 7.6 to 7.18 on the 0-100 g-tech

Towbar, gone. Rubber mats, gone. Boot deadning, gone. Floor deadning from rear and front, gone. Trans tunnel deadning, gone. Mats up near the firewall, gone. All that's left is the tricky bits I CBF reaching in to chip out, and scrapings on the floor which I couldn't be f'd to heat-gun off

So logically, the aircon is next

But yeah, I'm kinda reluctant to take the car to a shop, and pay $50 or something obscene to have gas taken OUT of my car

[Emackulation]

Isnt there a release valve up on the silver canister thingo? Woudnt that release it all, but I woudnt recommend doing that because its bad for the environment.

[Morton]

The blue thing? I've wondered what that did. But there's no way I would ever do that.


Ever.

[commsirac]

Deliberate release of r12, which is what the vn would have had originally, is an offence accompanied by four-five figure fines. You could collect it yourself into an empty gas bottle yourself if you had all the right connectors, but proper evacuation involves pumps to get every last bit of it. Possibly this regulation is violated daily at every wrecking yard in the country.
Sounds like you are trying to turn you vehicle into a racing car by stripping out all the creature comforts.

[greenfoam]

So the thing is if you are a skinny little bugger like yourself (and me) you only need aircon on a day that's over 35c or really 40c if you are tough. Now... how often does it get 35c-40c in Melbourne. Sure fairly often in Summer how often does it get that hot in Brisbane? ? almost never or never so rip it off

[Emackulation]

I have never been to Melb, but upon searching wikipedia Brisbane shows hotter temps then Melb, which is what I would have thought also.

[nathans1987]

keep air cond and get a bigger motor that will fix everything. preferably a v8

[Morton]

Deliberate release of r12, which is what the vn would have had originally, is an offence accompanied by four-five figure fines. You could collect it yourself into an empty gas bottle yourself if you had all the right connectors, but proper evacuation involves pumps to get every last bit of it. Possibly this regulation is violated daily at every wrecking yard in the country.
Sounds like you are trying to turn you vehicle into a racing car by stripping out all the creature comforts.

But like I said - I would NEVER do a thing like that.

Ever.

So the thing is if you are a skinny little bugger like yourself (and me) you only need aircon on a day that's over 35c or really 40c if you are tough. Now... how often does it get 35c-40c in Melbourne. Sure fairly often in Summer how often does it get that hot in Brisbane? ? almost never or never so rip it off

Yah, I can do the 35 thing, no worries. But I don't know if I could to the 35 thing if it was pelting down with rain... and Brisbane is QUITE tropical

Then again, I could get one of those MASSIVE wind shields that people with walking frames have.

keep air cond and get a bigger motor that will fix everything. preferably a v8

V8 comes after I shed the P Plates I'm thinking I want to have a bit of money aside first... But yes, at some point, I need a few more cylinders!

[nathans1987]

wouldnt a wind shield cancel out the 20kg loss in weight gain with more wind resistance

[greenfoam]

I have never been to Melb, but upon searching wikipedia Brisbane shows hotter temps then Melb, which is what I would have thought also.

Hotter on average but the Maximums we get in the South are much hotter. We get Northerly winds comming in from the desert that feels just like your girlfriend/wifes best hairdryer on flat out 5cm from your face . There's more days above 35c in a year in Melbourne than there are in a year in Sydney let alone Brisbane, true story. I've lived around Brisbane for a couple years before and a hot day there is nothing comapred to a hot day here, bunch of pussys. Not only the heat but the sunlight here is much stronger and will burn your skin off in an hour about the same as it would take a couple days up North, great for erasing eproms on the cheap but not much good for white people

Melbourne days per year above 35c = 9 days
Sydney days per year above 35c = 3.5 days
Brisbane days per year above 35c = 1 day

That's average per year as of 2006 or so (it will go up as we ruin the planet some more of course). It quite often gets over 40c in Melbourne. Adelaide is a whole other hotter story

[Morton]

Oh man, Adelaide is a DISASTER. They've been known to have straight weeks over 40 if they cop a bad heat wave. All it takes is one stalled high pressure cell, and the northerlies will NOT go away. I should know, I was born there

But I hear what you say, jase... only it's the humidity that kills you in the north

But having said all that, and what with me not wanting to be seen as a little girl - I think I'll proceed with the dissasembly of my a/c system

Maybe.

And nathan... well, you're right. The wind shield would be something I'd tack on if and only if it was raining. Like an umbrella - kept in the shed for the rest of the year.

[immortality]

And nathan... well, you're right. The wind shield would be something I'd tack on if and only if it was raining. Like an umbrella - kept in the shed for the rest of the year.

might as well take the rear one out as well, seeing as your going to pull the front one, the rear one will pop out to first time you go down the motorway anyways, it will cause to much air resistance.

rip that aircon out, all the gas has probably leaked out anyways

[Morton]

Eh? I don't HAVE a rear one... or a front one. That right there, was a hypothetical.

And yeah, I suspect that air-con doesn't have much if any gas left in it...

... especially not any.

at all.

...

>_>

[VN_Luke]

all removered now?

[Morton]

No, I was called into work just after I posted that - and now I'm back at home, it's ****ING down. Looks like it'll have to wait for the weekend

Damnit

[Crunkz0r]

Hotter on average but the Maximums we get in the South are much hotter. We get Northerly winds comming in from the desert that feels just like your girlfriend/wifes best hairdryer on flat out 5cm from your face . There's more days above 35c in a year in Melbourne than there are in a year in Sydney let alone Brisbane, true story. I've lived around Brisbane for a couple years before and a hot day there is nothing comapred to a hot day here, bunch of pussys. Not only the heat but the sunlight here is much stronger and will burn your skin off in an hour about the same as it would take a couple days up North, great for erasing eproms on the cheap but not much good for white people

Melbourne days per year above 35c = 9 days
Sydney days per year above 35c = 3.5 days
Brisbane days per year above 35c = 1 day

That's average per year as of 2006 or so (it will go up as we ruin the planet some more of course). It quite often gets over 40c in Melbourne. Adelaide is a whole other hotter story

Are you kidding me? i'm pretty sure from memory there was more than ONE day over 35 degrees in brisbane and like you said, ona verage anywhere south of Bris is almost always colder than brisbane, i come from adelaide and been in adelaide for their 40 degree weather and its just hot and dry where as up in qld it is hot and humid, the humidity brings the storms and while it is raining and storming, it is still extremely hot and u cant exactly have ur windows down in the rain. That is what gets u without air con on them hot humid days.

But if u do take the aircon out, you should get a weather shield for when it rains, but weathershields really are ugly. A Mate of mine re-done his own air conditioning and it is very cold and comfortable on a steamy hot day.

[Astranomical]

Really, in a road car, you want to keep the A/C...otherwise, in the middle of summer the heat will drive you crazy.

If the car's mostly for track/race/motorsport use though, pull 'er out.